PUNE: The offer of a friendly
cricket match led to the arrest of one of the burglars who had broken into renowned Marathi writer Pu La Deshpande and Deccan Education Society (DES) chairman Vikas Kakatkar’s apartments here last year.
The police found valuables worth Rs 1.65 lakh on him. Unidentified men had broken into renowned Deshpande’s two flats at Malati Madhav Apartment on Bhandarkar Road to strike gold on December 19, 2017. The writer’s relatives had said the burglars had returned empty-handed. The burglars had targeted Kakatkar’s apartment the previous night and stolen ornaments worth Rs 4 lakh.
A police team led by senior inspector Nitin Bhosale-Patil arrested Jitsingh, alias Jitu Rajpalsing Tak (24), of Hadapsar on Wednesday last from Nigdi. The police have identified three of his accomplices and launched a search for them.
The police had received a tip-off that Tak and his friends were playing cricket in a ground in Nigdi. The members in the police team changed into T shirts and track pants and went to the ground with cricket bats and ball with them. They invited Tak and his friends to have a friendly match. When Tak came forward to shake hands with them, the policemen arrested him. His associates, however, managed to flee the spot.
During questioning, Tak told the police that he had committed burglaries at an apartment located on J M Road and another on Bhandarkar Road. Bhosale-Patil said that the two apartments were of Kakatkar and Deshpande, respectively.
Tak has been involved in many property offences and was arrested many times in the past, the police said.
Illustration for representational purpose.